Celebrate Empowerment IIIJun 25 2015​In case you missed it - we hosted ourthird annual Celebrate Empowerment fundraiser at the Ex-Press bar at the United Nations Headquarters this past Thursday - June 25th, 2015. Co-chaired by our sister organization - GESSL (www.girlsempowermentsummitsl.org), the evening drew over 100 altruistic individuals to mix, mingle, and help raise much needed funds to support and empower underprivileged boys and girls in Sierra Leone. The event featured a showcase of items made by students in the programs as well as a special video presentation featuring our students and facts about our organizations and our work over the past year. Throughout the night we danced to the music of DJ K9 and enjoyed two special performances by vocalist - Kanu and Nigerian artist (singer/songwriter/producer) - Oga'Silachi. All of us at Visão are truly grateful for all the hard work of our volunteers as well as the generosity of our sponsors.The success of our event is testament to the collective time, energy and efforts everyone put in. We are thankful to our sponsors Hint Water (www.hintwater.com), Wegmans, and Super Stop & Shop for providing drinks, Madiba, Lenox Saphire, Buka and Bier International for providing the delicious food and Bims Flavors (www.bimsflavors.com) and Baked by Melissa (www.bakedbymelissa.com) for our delicious desserts. A special thank you to Alaffia (www.alaffia.com) and Cecret Candles (www.cecretcandles) for donating lip balms and candles for our guests and volunteers. See you all at Celebrate Empowerment IV!

CELEBRATE EMPOWERMENT IIJun 25 2014﻿Fabulous New Yorkers decided to turn on their swag for a good cause on June 25th 2014, at our 2nd annual Celebrate Empowerment event held at the Courtyard Mariott, in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The event - hosted by The Visão Foundation and Girls Empowerment Summit Sierra Leone (GESSL) brought over 130 guests, including many young professionals from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The aim of Celebrate Empowerment was to fundraise for youth programs in Sierra Leone run by these two organizations. The event kicked off with guests mingling and enjoying appetizers from various sponsors including Jollof Restaurant, Madiba Restaurant, The Meatball Shop, and pouring over the fabulous dessert station created by the super talented Bims Flavors. After some mingling and shopping for gorgeous handmade African accessories at our “Shop to Empower” stand, guests were treated to a live performance by Sahr Ngaujah and Ricardo Quinones of the group, FELA aKUsTIc. Following this high energy performance of some of the late Fela’s songs, guests got down to the serious business of the night – dancing. DJ K9 rocked the house with popular Afrobeat, Soukous, Kwaito, and Sierra Leone tunes to everyone’s delight. Thanks to the incredibly generous donations of our guests we were able to exceed our fundraising target for the night. We would like to thank all guests who attended the event – without your support – Celebrate Empowerment 2014 would not have been the roaring success it was. Thank you!!! And we look forward to seeing you next year!!!

CELEBRATE EMPOWERMENT Nov 1 2013With the sun slowly going down, the Wix Lounge was transformed, with an African flair, for a bit of fundraising fun. The Visão Foundation and Girls Empower Summit Sierra Leone (GESSL) team hosted 'Celebrate Empowerment' - a fundraiser to support the health and empowerment of young boys and girls in Sierra Leone. For a minimal entrance fee, guests were able to wander the tables and shop for unique items from various parts of the African continent, while enjoying a buffet of delicious African and Caribbean , and a performance by Sierra Leonean artist - Azania. The event raised over $2,000. We thank everyone for their support/donations and ensuring a successful event. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next one!